The billionaire adviser to the president spoke at the beginning of the meeting with the heads of agencies such as the state department and Pentagon.

"We’ve got to be very grateful that he is wanting to do this and investing his time, energy and money into it.”

But now that billionaire Elon Musk is orchestrating mass layoffs of federal workers, it’s not clear that rhetoric translates into popular policy. At town halls from Missouri to Georgia to Oklahoma, constituents of Republican lawmakers have shown up to protest Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s aggressive efforts to slash government spending.

Musk caused alarm among federal employees over an email sent on Saturday requesting that employees summarize their work.

Elon Musk told federal workers Monday evening that they had "another chance" to justify their work or lose their jobs. The original deadline passed later on Monday.

The turmoil that enveloped the federal workforce over the last few days is unlikely to cease anytime soon as the U.S. government's human resources agency considers how to fulfill Elon Musk ’s demands.